Hannover 96 1 - 1 Mainz - Soto secures point for Mainz

Mainz continued their bright start to the new year with a 1-1 Bundesliga draw at Hannover on Tuesday evening.

Elkin Soto scored the deserved equaliser for Kasper Hjulmand's men, cancelling out Jimmy Briand's first-half opener to deny the Reds their first win of the second half of the season late on.

After putting five past Paderborn at the weekend, the point ensures Mainz a relatively safe position in mid-table - just three points behind Hannover, whose hopes of qualifying for Europe next season are slowly diminishing.

Lars Stindl, who was reportedly attracting interest from Liverpool ahead of the transfer deadline, was Hannover's liveliest player and he could have given them the lead early on, but Loris Karius made a good save to deny him.

Karius then frustrated Hiroshi Kiyotake as Hannover made a positive start, culminating in the opening goal in the 26th minute.

Briand struck after Karius only punched a corner away, and there was no disputing his goal after Stindl and Joselu had seen strikes ruled out for offside.

Mainz improved considerably in the second half with Johannes Geis striking the left-hand post with a direct free-kick before testing Ron-Robert Zieler with a piledriver soon after.

Briand could have doubled Hannover's lead on the counter-attack, but Mainz were now in the ascendency and they levelled with 13 minutes remaining when substitute Soto poked the ball in.

Mainz then retreated to defend their point, succeeding despite a scare when Artur Sobiech sent a free header straight at Karius from only six yards out.